


Pins and Needles

by awintersrose



Series: Clandestine Joys [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute Kids, First Meetings, Gen, Humor, Pre-Relationship, childhood flashback
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awintersrose/pseuds/awintersrose
Summary: It's Genin team announcement day. Tsunade waits and wonders exactly what is in store.





	Pins and Needles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kri-Kee](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Kri-Kee).



> A Sannin childhood flashback drabble set in the CJ-verse as a gift for my dear friend, Kri-Kee. Hope you all enjoy!

“When your name is called, please come to the front of the classroom to greet your teammates, and return to your seats in the assigned groups of three… Team 1: Inuzuka Yami… Uchiha Inabi...”

Tsunade chewed on a small lock of her hair as she looked around the room, with a skepticism that reached well beyond her six years of age. She sat with two other older girls in the back row of the auditorium, peering around and hoping that the blend of excitement and dread she felt was not coloring her expression. Most of the kids in the room were much older than she was, between ages ten and twelve, and knowing this, there was no telling who she might end up with on a Genin squad, or who her sensei might be. 

Most people tended to give her a wide berth, being the Shodaime Hokage’s granddaughter. Often this gave her license to do more or less whatever she wanted, to read the books she wanted, to practice the things she wanted whenever the rest of her work was done. The other girls in her class were so distracted by boys like Uchiha Inabi, that they did not pay enough attention to their marks. She simply did not see the appeal, thinking that the Uchiha looked rather like a very ill-tempered cat that had been left out in the rain, furious, with all its fur sticking up.

Her brows furrowed as she scanned the rows of Genin graduates. Tsunade had overheard two of the Chuunin teachers saying that two boys her age had also passed the Genin exams, but she hadn’t seen them yet, and her curiosity was getting the better of her. The teacher at the front of the room had rambled through name after name, and the other two girls sitting with her had been filed into their respective teams.

“Team 7: Senju Tsunade...Shimenawa Orochimaru...Akamine Jiraiya.”

Tsunade shot to her feet in an instant, eyes darting around the room to see the other two members of her team stand up and walk to the front. Both boys looked as young if not younger than she was! She could not see much of the smaller one, but she saw enough to know that he was slender and pale, with the glossiest black hair she had ever seen, wearing a rather pretty yukata, bordered with the magatama pattern of the snake summoners. He moved with a sort of effortless grace, as if his feet would not even make noise on the wooden floors.The other boy had yet to say a word but somehow he even managed to  _ look _ noisy. He had a mess of fluffy white hair that stuck up in all directions, red marks at the edge of his eyes, and as his eyes fell on her, he flashed her a giant grin. It was the kind of smile that was hard to look away from without drawing one across her own face. He was the kind of boy her grandmother would call trouble.

“Get acquainted as you like, then take your seats up where Tsunade was sitting. Each Jounin sensei will be here to fetch their teams one at a time,” Akane-sensei said, repeating the same statement she had rattled off to the six other teams before them.

Jiraiya looked at his teammates and flashed the same bright, effervescent grin he had before, one so wide his eyes squinted shut. Tsunade smiled gently, the way her grandmother insisted she should when meeting new people. Orochimaru, who at an unobstructed glance, had features so delicate he could have passed for a girl, looked at them both and gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, but held a wary expression in his eyes. Eyes that were unlike anything Tsunade had ever seen before, like bright liquid gold with slitted pupils like a serpent, edged in violet markings that swept down the sides of his delicate nose. He was possibly the prettiest boy she had ever seen, actually pretty, and for a moment she stole as many sidelong glances as she could, hoping it was not obvious, or worse, creepy. 

Orochimaru crossed his arms and started to walk back up the rising steps to where they were expected to wait for their sensei. Tsunade followed, and she could hear Jiraiya’s footfalls behind her, his chakra signature slightly warm at her back, like gentle sunshine. The trio filed into the row with Tsunade seated between the two boys. She looked at one, then the other, and suddenly was unsure what she had gotten herself into, what their teachers had gotten them into.

“So ah… Tsuna-chan, do you have a boyfriend?” Jiraiya said, with dark eyes glittering.

“Of course I don’t, baka. And that’s not something you ask someone when you meet them for the first time!”

“But you’re so pretty!”

Tsunade’s face grew burning hot, both in outrage and with a strange fluttering in her chest. How dare he?

“Perhaps you ought to stop being rude, Akamine-kun,” Orochimaru said quietly. 

“My name is Jiraiya! And wow, say something again!”

“What? Why?” Orochimaru looked at the white haired boy like he had grown another head. Jiraiya leaned in and peered at him even more pointedly.

“Tsuna-chan, this guy has fangs. Like honest to goodness fangs!” Jiraiya exclaimed.

Orochimaru shut his mouth and glared at the other boy. 

“That only shows what you know,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“So do the Inuzuka and the Hatake. It’s because of their summons, BAKA!” Tsunade could feel a small vein in her temple beginning to pulse.

“I don’t know. I read a lot of books, and he looks kinda like a vampire.” 

Orochimaru rolled his eyes and sighed, fiddling with his sleeves, and Tsunade finally gave in to her basest impulses and flicked the white haired boy on the ear, hard.

“OW! Hey, that wasn’t very nice, MISS PRINCESS! Besides, it’s a compliment. Vampires are usually pale and pretty. And they have fangs. OW!” He whined as she flicked his ear again, this time harder.

A throat cleared loudly somewhere below them, and the three Genin realized they were the only students left in the room, with the Sandaime Hokage looking up at them. Only he wasn’t wearing his robes, or his hat.

“If you three are quite done, perhaps you would like to come with me?”

The three children looked down at him in horror, certain that they were in trouble. They were up and out of their seats in an instant, barreling down the steps.

“I’m sorry sir, we should have been on our best behavior while we waited for our Jounin sensei. Are we in trouble?” Tsunade asked in her sweetest, nicest voice. Sarutobi-sama had been at her house many times to meet with her grandparents.

“On the contrary, you three are NOT getting a Jounin sensei.”

The three kids looked up at him, crestfallen. Tsunade tried to swallow the frog in her throat. She was not going to cry in front of these dumb boys. But Kami, Grandmother was going to be so angry…

“I will be your sensei from here on out,” the Hokage said with a wink, turning to walk out of the auditorium, pretending not the see the looks of utter shock and delight crossing the faces of his three newest students.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Note - I believe this is the first time Jiraiya's family name has actually appeared thus far, so a little detail: Akamine means "red peak," a nod to the mountain-based but partially nomadic group the women of his family descended from. Neither he nor his mother actively use the name in everyday life, but its noted at an official level.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading - I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please, please drop me a line or hit the kudos button if you can to let me know. Feedback honestly helps keep me going, and I truly appreciate every bit of it <3
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr: [awintersrose.tumblr.com](http://awintersrose.tumblr.com)


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